My name is Robin Cedric James.  I was named after my father and my uncle; both are dead.  My father died in the Afghan war last year and my uncle died in a car crash.  Both wre only in their thirties, way too young.  

I miss them.  I miss them very much, especially my Daddy.  He was my best friend; when he died, I thought I would die myself.  It was a really bad time for me, especially when Mama got word that Daddy had died in the war.  There isn't a day where I don't hink about him or stop missing him.

If there was one thing I wish, I wish God could bring my Daddy back to me.  I miss not having him here.  I miss his rumbling laugh, his cooking (his barbeque spare ribs were to DIE for!), his smell (he smelled like cigarettes, gasoline and oil, and burning leaves), the way he used to goof off with us kids, and his corny jokes.

But that aside, my life is still pretty good.  I have a lot of friends, a loving Mama to help take away some of the sadness/loneliness away, two awesome little brothers (their names are Corwin Darnell and Cuba Grant; they are six and two; I'm ten), lots of cousins who come to see me every month, my church, and my school.

 I'm in fourth grade at Taylor Elementary School here in Taylortown, Ohio, where I live; I make very good grades.  I love to do many things: go skiing, sledding, and snow tubing in the winter, flying my kite, playing baseball, and horsing around witih my family and friends in the spring, going swimming, camping, and traveling in the summer, and playing football, soccer, and basketball in the fall, and going to church all year long.  

I do a lot of things to help take away the sadness of losing my pop and my uncle.  And believe me, it helps, as does my faith in God.  God has helped me heal from the majority of the sadness, but sometimes I still get sad, especially around days like Christmas, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving, and on Daddy's birthday and on Father's Day.

When I grow up, I want to be a pastor or a writer.  I think I'd be good at both.  My uncle (the one who died, Uncle Hobart) was a pastor, and he was a darn good one.  And as for the writing bit, I've always loved to write; I love writing stories.  I get A's on  my writing; my teacher says I am really good at it.  

Well, class is about to end, so I'll go.  I will write again soon; hope you liked reading about me.  The sad parts are not fun, but that's what happened, so I have to include the sad parts along with the good; teacher says stories seem more real that way.  Life is not all roses, as my Mama says.  Take care and God bless!

~Robin.  :)